Sunday, 31 May 2015

20 days left to secure funding for new short film ‘Our Cyprus’

A British director has less than three weeks to raise nearly £6,000
to complete the financing of his new short film Our Cyprus. Brighton-based Alkin Emirali, whose family hails from Luricina

(Akıncılar), has launched an online campaign aiming to raise
£7,750 for his mini drama set in modern-day North London.
To date, £1,970 has been pledged to the project.

About the film

Our Cyprus stars
renowned British actor Peter Polycarpou (Birds of a Feather/TV, Les Misérables/stage
and Evita/film) who plays the lead Mehmet Ali, an elderly Turkish Cypriot who remembers
a happily mixed Cyprus
before the island was divided; his home village of Luricina
the perfect example of Greek and Turkish Cypriots living side-by-side as
friends and neighbours.

Mehmet Ali meets Andreas, a young UK-born Greek Cypriot whose life
has been shaped by the Cyprus Conflict. For him, Turkish Cypriots are the enemy.
Yet Mehmet Ali feels an affinity to the young man. What will it take for these two
people to overcome a lifetime of hatred and to once again become friends?

Homing in on the human perspective, this universal story about two
communities torn apart by a political conflict could just as easily be about a Palestinian
and an Israeli, or a Protestant and a Catholic from Northern Ireland. That it is about Cyprus during a
time of renewed hope for the island’s unification is perhaps a positive omen –
certainly a sign of the times.

Writing about his new project online, it’s clear that Alkin Emirali wants to move beyond the
constraints of the conflict and celebrate the two communities’ commonalities: “I grew up hearing my grandparents speaking
primarily Greek Cypriot despite being Turkish Cypriots. I heard about my
paternal grandfather and his drinking buddy the Greek Orthodox priest. I learnt
that both my grandfathers (Turkish Cypriots) were baptised in the Church as
well as being circumcised as Muslims…that Greek and Turkish Cypriots would
celebrate each other's religious holidays.”

“It seemed to me that
these people were not just neighbours, but such close friends that it was hard
to see where one ended and the other began.”

Alkin Emirali made his mark directing commercials for Sony & BMW

Alkin is oneof the UK’s emerging filmmaking talents, whose work has
attracted the support of industry bodies Creative England and the UK Film
Council, The Turkish Cypriot writer/director first made his mark directing commercials
for the likes of Sony PSP and BMW, before turning his hand to writing and
producing a number of short films including RUF
992M. Currently penning a script about an epic historical drama for Ardor,
an independent production company, Alkin hopes to go on and make his own
full-length feature film, Goats &
Sheep, which is set in Luricina in the 1920s.

Funding Our Cyprus

The fundraising campaign for Our
Cyprus runs until 20 June. Donations can be as little as £5, which gets you
a public thank you. For £10, you’ll receive the film poster. £75 will get you
an invite to the film’s premiere, and for £150 you can also star in the film.
There are multiple other levels up to £1,000, which offers two people the
chance to be credited as an Executive Producer.

You can find out more about the film and make a donation here. You can follow
the film’s progress on their Our Cyprus Facebook page

About Me

Launched in April 2013, T-VINE is the UK's first & only English language consumer publication for British Turks and those interested in the world of Turks. Available quarterly in print and online daily, we cover news, culture, people, places, wellbeing, and lifestyle.